Enzymatic Method for Detecting Sucrose in Ancient Chinese Mortars

摘要

Saccharides were used worldwide among many organic additives in masonry mortars. In China, one of the most widely used saccharides was sucrose (brown sugar). According to ancient literature records, brown sugar was usually added in lime, earth and "tabia" to build forts and vernacular dwellings in eastern and southeastern China. Common methods used to detect sugars in mortars were mainly chemical methods, FTIR, etc. In this work, an enzymatic method was tested and performed on simulated mortars and ancient mortar samples. The results suggested that this method was sensitive and exclusive, with low detection limits and simple operations and is recommended for sucrose detection in ancient mortars.